


First Kill

by cwxyz



Category: RWBY
Genre: Comfort/Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-12
Updated: 2017-02-12
Packaged: 2018-09-23 17:30:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9668732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cwxyz/pseuds/cwxyz
Summary: Emerald is upset about a thing, and Mercury can actually relate to something for once.





	

_All the showers in the world couldn’t get the blood off her._

Emerald had washed herself at least three times, scrubbing furiously where the blood had stuck to her skin long after it had run down the drain. Nearly the entire bar of hotel soap had disappeared by the time she finished, despite her not feeling an ounce cleaner. 

And now, lying in bed, she still couldn’t shake the wave of nausea that threatened her each time she closed her eyes and was met with the horrified expression of a man who’d just received a blade to the chest, color draining from his face as a direct result of her actions. 

It wasn’t like it was her first time dealing with death, or murder for that matter. On the contrary, she’d seen a number of dead people during her youth, and since joining Cinder’s group had been on quite a few missions that resulted in a death or two. 

The thing was, she was never the one _directly_ responsible. Mercury, the guy who could slit someone’s throat without batting an eyelash, was usually the one responsible for that. She’d create some sort of illusion or distraction if needed, but he was the one who got his hands dirty. This time he was occupied with other opponents, forcing her to do something she was not at all comfortable with. 

_Speaking of_. Emerald rolled to her side to observe the teenager in the bed opposite hers, his scroll illuminating him as he held it above his face, looking to be playing some sort of game judging by his rapid finger movements and occasional frustrated sigh. How could he be so calm? He’d killed three people to her one, and yet didn’t seem to have a care in the world while she couldn’t stop remembering the feeling of her blade digging into skin, warmth splattering across her chest. 

She’d done some terrible things in her lifetime, and didn’t regret most of them, but she’d _taken a life_. Cinder had smiled her approval when Mercury relayed the news of Emerald’s kill, knowing the girl had never done such a thing, but for once her boss’s approval couldn’t smooth over the guilt from what she’d done. 

“Y’like whatcha see or something?” Mercury’s flat voice pulled Emerald from slipping into panic, her jaw unclenching as she let out a breath she’d been unknowingly holding. His eyes didn’t leave his scroll, though it was relieving as she didn’t want him to see the unease on her face. 

“I...I’m fine.” Her shaky voice was a dead giveaway that she wasn’t. 

“You’re bothered about earlier.” He spoke knowingly, the slightest tinge of concern in his voice. It was so weird hearing such a tone come from him that she instinctively wanted to accuse him of being sarcastic. 

But, he was right. Her mouth opened and closed several times as she hesitated to speak. “Mercury, how do you just...why…” Immediately she regretted it as her voice cracked, a tear escaping to fall onto the pillow. 

_God, what an idiot_. Was she really crying about killing someone to the guy who’d lost track of his kill count? Why? Was she expecting sympathy? The teenage assassin was probably the last person on Remnant to give _that_ to her. 

He let out a sigh, placing the scroll on his chest as his head tilted towards her. “You _do_ know that being a professional killer wasn’t on my list of things I wanted to grow up to be as a kid, right?” He laughed hollowly. 

Emerald was silent, afraid to say anything as it might trigger more tears. 

“You don’t feel guilty when you steal things from people, even though most people would, right?” 

“No….” 

“Right, because you had to do it in order to survive - and now you’ve gotten used to it and accepted yourself as someone who steals. So it doesn’t bother you anymore.” 

Speaking with him did calm her a bit, even if it didn’t do much to ease her own feelings of remorse. It was simply nice expressing her feelings, even if in the back of her mind she was readying for him to come back with some snarky, mocking comment about her being too sensitive. But he did sound genuine, so she chose to take a leap of faith and assume he was - they would be partners for the foreseeable future, so it was probably better they not be at each other's’ throats constantly. 

She cleared her throat, fairly confident she could control her emotions enough to speak without faltering mid-sentence. “Are you saying...you killed people to survive, and just got used to it?” She stole for food, shelter, literally things she needed to live. It was hard to imagine a situation in which killing people would grant one such life essentials. 

“Pretty much.” He paused, waiting for her to get annoyed and accuse him of lying. However, it seemed Emerald was being in an abnormally kind mood as well, as he got no such reaction. “You know...I didn’t kill my dad over a _minor disagreement_.” 

Despite the darkness he could make out Emerald’s shocked expression. He only hoped she wouldn’t do something lame like try and comfort him about it. Now that he definitely couldn’t deal with. 

“Listen, my point is...killing people is a shitty thing to get used to, so I’ll...try and make sure you don’t have to.” With a sigh he faced forward again, picking up where he’d left off on his game. 

Emerald couldn’t help her lips from pulling into a smile. Being nice _and_ revealing a bit of his past to her? This was truly a momentous occasion. Plus, his offer seemed genuine, and she would be happy to never need to commit such a sin again.

“Or you could, y’know, stop being a wuss.” 

Still, there wasn’t a hint of malice in his tone; it was quite obviously his way of playing off the fact that he’d just said something nice. Possibly the nicest thing he’d ever said to her, actually. 

“You ass.” She allowed her own eyes to close, glad to not see her victim’s face right away again. “But...thanks.”


End file.
